I managed to run two out of three scheduled trips this week. It was a week plagued with equipment problems that worked only because my old friend Terry Ryan, who was on Sanibel for the week and scheduled to fish with me Sunday and Monday, swapped his beast of a Chevy diesel truck for my car for a couple of days, allowing me to get my boat to the ramp, and Terry and his gang to get around on the islands. Terry and Michel, and Bill and Dee, and I, met for dinner at Pincher's Crab Shack Saturday evening. After a couple of hours of laughing until our sides and cheeks hurt, I headed home in Terry's baby, and Terry and the gang headed back to Sanibel in my baby. Oh, God. We do have fun when we get together. And, the folks at Pinchers are right there in the middle of it.
Believe it, or not, Terry's diesel Chevy was the first diesel vehicle I'd ever driven. Oh, as a young man I operated Cat D-8's and D-6's, draglines, and other heavy equipment, and knew the virtues of a diesel engine, but still I was amazed at the pulling power of that pickup truck. My rig isn't like pulling a big offshore boat, but still it weighs in at around 4,000 pounds. But, Terry's truck didn't seem to care whether it was pulling the load or not. You just couldn't tell it was back there. I was amazed.
Terry and Michel were already at the ramp when I got there, and it wasn't long before we were on our way toward Kiesel's flat for bait. Bait had been good there on the last few trips, but it was tough on this day. We got bait, but we really worked for it. We wound up with a good mix of shiners, threadfins, pinfish, and ballyhoo. Finally, we were ready to fish.
Our first spot, which is a place I love to be when the tide first kicks coming in, was full of monster snook. Holy smokes. I saw snook there that had to be pushing fifty inches long. They looked like tarpon to the untrained eye. But, as is so often on the full moon tides, they weren't about to eat. We waited until the water was really moving hard, and still they wouldn't eat. That's when we moved on.
Our next spot was a fun stop. It was a veritable smorgasbord, and Terry and Michele caught all kinds of fish. They caught a few trout including a really nice keeper around 4 pounds, a really fat snapper of around 14 inches, a flounder, a redfish, a jack crevalle, and missed a couple of snook. It was a good hole. But, when it's over it's over, and time to move on.
Our next couple of spots gave us nothing but scaled baits and the odd catfish or two. We were fighting the effects of our first early season cold front and the full moon. I just wanted to be on redfish when they decided it was time to eat. So, we kept at it.
Finally, we scored out best redfish action late in the morning. Terry and Michele bagged several nice reds toward the end of the tide. At that point we had quite a potpourri of fish in the well, and we're just fried from the record hot temperatures. We were ready to head to the Waterfront Restaurant for lunch.
Those who have been reading my fishing reports for years know that any day with Terry Ryan is an unforgettable day full of fun and laughs, and this one was no exception. We'd had a blast from start to finish. And, the next morning we were going to do it all over again, except with Terry and Bill.
By Monday morning, I was in love with Terry's diesel truck. I was amazed at the difference in pulling power with my 265 HP Dodge van. Terry and Bill were at the ramp ready to go when I got there. Once in the water we discussed what the plan for the day would be. Terry and Bill didn't much care what we did. They just wanted to catch some fish and have fun. Based upon their input, I decided we'd catch bait close to the ramp, and then try to find a good big trout bite close to home, for starters.
We headed to what's known as the Engineer's House at the southeast corner of Pine Island, for bait. Bait was very tough, but we got plenty of shiners, pinfish, and ballyhoo to fish with before it was over. But, I had a hell of a workout.
With bait in the well, we headed to the mouth of a creek that I love to fish for big trout on the outgoing tide. And, we had an outgoing tide until mid-morning. The boys hit a big, fat trout right off the bat, and I thought we'd catch plenty. But, most of the rest of the fish we caught were just under the slot. We worked that area over until the tide quit running, and then turned our attention to snook on the incoming tide.
We headed to a spot that I love to fish for snook on the incoming tide, but don't fish often because of the long manatee zones involved. We had great bait, and a couple of guys that could cast, but we couldn't get anything more than a bunch of scaled baits! The snook were there, but they just didn't want to eat. Again, we moved on.
Our next stop was to be for redfish, but they didn't want to eat. We may have been a little early on the tide for them, but I think they were just shut down because of the conditions. Terry did hook a monster sting ray, though, and fought it for quite a while. Finally, we broke it off, and moved on.
On further up in the Sound we continued our hunt for reds in October. I settled on a spot that been just full of redfish lately. The fish were there, alright, but they weren't in an eating mood, either. Terry did bag one nice redfish there, and we missed another one. Then, they quit showing any interest at all. They just locked up. We were on the road, again.
I settled on another spot that has been very good lately. We worked it hard, and our reward was one snook, and one redfish lost. The fish were really playing hardball. At the next spot we managed to strike out. There were plenty of snook there, but they weren't playing. At yet another hole we scored two snook. Again, there were lots of snook there. They're hit some of our chum and scale our baits. Had a few baits blown out of the water. But, nada. We hit one more spot, again with lots of fish but no bite. Apparently, the first early season cold front, though not a big weather event, was enough in combination with the full moon, to shut things down.
It was time to head home. I was totally fried. But, didn't realize just how fried I was just yet. Terry and Bill were, too. Back at the dock someone commented on how slow I was walking, and that was when I realized that three days in the record heat had beaten me up. You just can't stay in summer fishing shape when you're not fishing on a regular basis. Even Terry noticed that I was not my usual self. But, he assured me that he'd had a blast even though I was a bit off my game.
Terry and I have been fishing together for years, and friends right from day one. He and Michele are very special people, as are Bill and Dee. Terry and Michele's son-in-law was recently injured in Afghanistan by an IED. Three of his fellow soldiers lost their lives. Details of his condition were sketchy, but Terry had just gotten word that he was going to finally be shipped to a stateside hospital. I would like to ask each of you who believes in the power of prayer to pray for his quick and total recovery.
